Pediatrician, Adolescent Medicine
Boston Children’s Hospital
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Harvard Medical School
“At the Digital Wellness Lab, we believe that by sharing innovative, rigorous, independent research and clinical expertise, we can change the paradigm for how young people use technology and engage with digital platforms.”
Michael Rich, MD, MPH is recognized globally for his acclaimed work as a pediatrician, child health researcher, and children’s media specialist. He is the Founder and Director of the Digital Wellness Lab which is on a mission to understand and promote positive and healthy digital media experiences for young people, from birth through young adulthood.
Dr. Rich is also the Founder and Co-Director of the Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders (CIMAID), the first evidence-based clinical program designed to address Problematic Interactive Media Use (PIMU) in children, adolescents, and young adults. Using a multidisciplinary approach, Dr. Rich works with young people and their families to help them to adopt and sustain healthy approaches to engaging with interactive media and technology.
More than 50 peer-reviewed research papers, and 40 book chapters, research reports, and pediatric practice policies have been authored by Dr. Rich. He has written policy statements on media and child health for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and testified on the scientific findings about media effects on child development and health to state legislatures, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Congress.
Having spent his first career as a filmmaker working in Japan with Akira Kurosawa, before transitioning to medicine, Dr. Rich has a unique combination of experience and expertise in medicine and media, which synergize in his health research and clinical work. As “the Mediatrician”, Dr. Rich recently released The Mediatrician’s Guide: A Joyful Approach to Raising Healthy, Smart, Kind Kids in a Screen-Saturated World, a science-backed approach to give parents the confidence they need to raise a child well (and to raise a well child) in the digital age.
Dr. Rich’s innovative child health research has been featured in national and international press, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Time, NPR, BBC, Education Week, and CBS, among others. He has served on multiple youth mental health advisory boards, participated in hundreds of expert panels, and delivered presentations across the world to tech and entertainment companies, schools, and healthcare organizations.
He is the recipient of numerous professional accolades including: the AAP Adele Dellenbaugh Hofmann Award for exemplifying excellence in the field of adolescent health; the AAP Holroyd-Sherry Award for contributions to knowledge and policy addressing children’s and adolescents’ use of media; the Peace Islands Institute Media Award for excellence in the field; the Family Online Safety Institute Award for Outstanding Achievement; and a first place award from the American Medical Writers’ Association for his work on teen communication strategies. In addition, Dr. Rich served as the AAP’s Media Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan and was the 2017 Litt Visiting Professor of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Through his work, he has developed innovative media-based research methodologies, including Video Intervention/Prevention Assessment (VIA) and Measurement of Youth Media Exposure (MYME).
Dr. Rich received his MD from Harvard Medical School and his MPH from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He completed his internship, residency, and fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Rich is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Society for Adolescent Medicine and is board certified in Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.